MickD

One more eye and he'd be a Cyclops

One more eye and he'd be a Cyclops

One more eye and he'd be a Cyclops

Smith is a class player 

Smith putting in another solid shift since his return from injury 

Don't worry, he's nailed on to get onto a cross
 

Dont think barker on RamsTV should be praising Wildsmith for his gamesmanship

We still created three very good first half chances that probably should have been converted.

I did notice that once near the half way line. Unfortunately we took it about 8 yards away from the foul. But fans were screaming around me - for us to get on with it , many times . We could also have given the ball to CTB when he was in space but took too long . Perhaps we missed Bird . In general I don’t like Wildsmith Lumping every free kick near the half way line .

Good post, and if I may say it’s the type of content I’m here for and we don’t see enough on here!
What id say is that I think over the course of a season you are somewhat expected to drop points away from home where teams fancy their chances of an upset. Also you can expect a bit of leggyness/mental exhaustion after a big win like the Bolton one, it’s a really difficult league to find consistency in and I’d say all teams have suffered from that and hence it’s so close at the top. 
 
What’s becoming more of an issue I think is the points dropped at home. There’s been atleast 6-9 points, and that’s being kind, that we dropped. A better home record and you can excuse a trip like Saturday as one of those days and move on.

The fella sat down on the halfway line chewing gum and grinning for over 2 mins was my favourite.  That being said, I'd love a midfielder to show, pick up the ball quickly from the goalie, and move .  At the minute Wildsmith gets it, does the weird calm down thing with his hand for 5 seconds, then hoofs it straight through or passes it to Cashin who sends it down the wing.  We welcome congestion on tight pitches by doing this over and over.

You have made a very important point about momentum. I was at the Cobblers game . How much time is wasted when Wildsmith strolls to the half way line to hoof the ball into the box. Good teams keep the ball moving so that defences don’t get time for a “Breather” or get organised. 

It’s taken me almost two seasons of us being in League One, and ruminating over the last couple of days on what happened in the Northampton game and others we have lost, to finally twig what being in L1 means. Before this I was baffled when people spoke of different types of football being played in different leagues, thinking it shouldn’t matter what style of football you play, whatever league you’re in, as the ‘better’ team will mostly win. Just play your own game and good will conquer evil, as such, but this doesn't seem to always be the case.
In ‘The Numbers Game’ book by Anderson and Sally, a passage about Tony Pullis stuck with me, concerning his tactics as manager of Stoke. In the PL in 10/11 the ball was in play an average of 62.39 minutes. For Stoke, this figure was 58.52 minutes. For Man U, it was 66.58 minutes. So, Stoke had the ball in play for 8 fewer minutes per match than Man U.
Pullis knew Stoke only really had possession when the opposition put the ball out of play, so he maximised this time and worked on set pieces.
Long throws by one Rory Delap were an extension of this, with the time taken to retrieve the ball, gather it in his hands, dry it with a towel, then throw it long, the clock ticking down the whole time.
Of course there are new laws of the game to try to limit such time wasting, with multiball use, the ban on towels, 30 secs off the pitch if a physio used for treatment, more added time used etc.
However, what we have seen in L1 is an attempt to circumnavigate this, with players going down as if seriously injured, the ref stops play, the clock ticks away. As the laws have changed, the feigning of injury seems to be the new time wasting tactic. I recall that in the first 3 minutes of the second half on Saturday, they had players down requiring a stoppage 3 times, and this set the tone for the half.
Then the mascot fiasco at Northampton. Using a mascot to delay giving the ball to our player, then to try and wind them up, just shows what their tactics were. They weren’t to play football, but to waste time and aggravate our players, that worked a treat and culminated with the sending off on Bradley. Job done.
The mascot activity was reported by the media as being hilarious, but I do wonder if in a key game for us at home Rammie kept the ball from being retrieved by the opposition whether the referee and EFL would find it so funny. Should L1 really be such a pantomime?
These things didn’t happen spontaneously or by accident, they were a concerted effort to stop us playing football and to use anti-football to win, and they worked.
Not that I necessarily consider us to be the Man City of L1, but it feels like the cliché of when teams try to play football against MC they come unstuck, however deploying other tactics rather than playing MC at their own game can work.
So… the point of all these ramblings… how can we beat teams who know they can’t beat us playing football, but can beat us by employing the ‘dark arts’?
My suggestions are:
1) There should be a DCFC member of staff specifically tasked during a game with timing how long during a half has been lost to time wasting tactics such as players going down either requiring treatment or not, that seems to be the de facto new method of running the clock down as is employed in particular in the second half of games. This info should be relayed to PW, who, if we are chasing a game, could then put pressure on the 4th official to liaise with the referee so at least a semblance of this decent amount of time is added on before the board is put up.
2) The players need desensitising to being aggravated by opposition wind up and time wasting activities, and leave it to the management staff to deal with this as above. The more they argue with the referee, the more the clock ticks down and they aren’t playing football.
Unless we learn how to deal with such tactics by the ‘lesser’ teams in L1, I feel we are always going to struggle against them as it causes our play to become disjointed and haphazard. It feels like the marginal gains scenario often quoted in sport, and is an aspect we don’t obviously seem to be addressing.
Hopefully this isn’t news to PW and some consideration is being given how to handle these games that aren’t necessarily being won on pure footballing terms.

Evening lads. Looking forward to our match next Tuesday. 
Think we'd both be happy with a draw? 
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Dot?  Is that you dear?  

To me we don’t play to his strengths. He’s at the wrong end of the pitch. He has a sweet left foot and is a good scoring option but for some reason finds himself in defence.
 I know he can’t run but the little energy he has should be focused on offence not defence. Let Ebou, Thompson, Smith etc do the grunt work. They aren’t goal scorers.
Let’s make the most of Conor’s time here and have him lurking around the edge of the box waiting to rifle in a goal.

'Warneball'.
Haven't you moved past that pathetic jibe yet?

Think he's still got a big part to play. There will be a lot of pressure in the games ahead, and he's played in a lot of big games. 

Hourihane is still a good player and has scored some vital goals for us.......In a two man midfield with  Bird  it doesn't work as both are slow tempo players , we haven't missed Bird as much as some would like to believe , we also didn't sign Hourihane for his mobility and has never really been that mobile anyway, but he's still an important part of the squad ...for sure 
also think he gets an unnecessary amount of criticism as does Korey Smith , both will be vital in the run in as will Ebooooou who is immense and best signing of the season for me 

This season we've seen more contributions from the whole squad rather than a reliance on one or two. Lots of us said that would need to be the case after losing Didzy and Hourihane had absolutely played his part. He also clearly fits the profile of a Warne player - determined, cares, supports his team mates and shows up when the chips are down.
I'd be inclined to think carefully about which games he starts, so that we can make the best use of what he's got left in the tank and throw him on to get the winner if we need to.
He will contribute to the points total at some point over the next 7 games. He could end up being the difference.

He’s the only one who willingly takes the ball of the back four.
He offers more offensively than Thompson or Smith.
Agree our midfield can look weak at times with him in there but he’s still an asset who he himself knows is probably calling in a day at the end of this summer. For that alone, I hope fans give him the respect he deserves for an excellent career.

He's played his part the same as everyone else has so far. Of course he can't press or get back so much but he has the respect of the squad and was noticeably organising things at Bristol Rovers. 
Still an important part of the squad.

Part of the squad that is currently sitting second in the league. Seems to be worth it to me, especially if we go up this season.

Last season it was 7 goals and 10 assists in 44 league one appearances, this season it’s 5 goals and 7 assists in 35 league one games and counting. Whilst not as consistent as I’d hoped he would be from set pieces, he’s still delivered good numbers and as @sage  implied, Hourihane can certainly still strike a ball. Some of his goals have been decisive this season. 
I mentioned on one of the matchday threads recently that he’s showing a bit of needle and aggression which I like, and I think he’s showing commitment and leadership especially in the run-in so far, up and cheering the lads on from the bench, not sulking, geeing others up.
I reckon he’s going to leave in the summer and although he’s not as mobile as he was, he is still contributing to the cause so for me he will have a part to play in the next 7 games whether from the bench or starting so he can leave on a high. 

Not sure about ‘we’ but I have…..but then maybe I’ve been looking for the good in him as I think he’s a decent player.
5 goals, 7 assists plus lots of good deliveries e.g Cashin’s header that hit the post v …was it Reading?
Granted, he’s not scored any worldie free kicks as far as I can remember